Threats to the Environment from Modernization

Unusual rain during dry seasons and periods of drought during rainy seasons are becoming more common; both may be related to global warming (probably result-ing from human perturbations of the atmosphere [Schlesresult-inger, 1991] and to local deforestation [see Gunn et al., 1995]). The environment on the peninsula is fragile, with all but the southern area receiving low rainfall and with no significant lakes or rivers to retain the water, except in the extreme south. Evapotranspiration is high in the hot sun during most of the year (140 mm³, compared with 180 mm³of rainfall;

Batllori, 1996). The intensification of agriculture, its extensification through defor-estation, rapidly increasing animal (especially cattle) populations that trample and compact the soil (BOSTID, 1984b, 1990), and the lack of improvements in meth-ods of water storage (and, in fact, their serious deterioration, see Faust, 1998) have apparently combined to contribute to increasing soil desiccation and micro-climate change. This does not bode well for the future sustainability of agriculture on the peninsula.

Experience in similar climatic zones elsewhere in the developing world may provide useful lessons for the Yucat´an peninsula. Human and animal population growth in much of Africa in recent decades have combined with naturally occur-ring climatic cycles to create a growing problem of vegetation and forest loss that is threatening the survival of the region’s populations (BOSTID, 1984a, 1984b;

Timberlake, 1985; Acevi, 1990). Increasing sedentary or settled agricultural popu-lations are competing for land with growing pastoralist popupopu-lations and their herds.

This increasing pressure of the population on the land is complicated by other forces, including loss of land (similar in this sense to the 19th century “enclosures”

in England) to large government commercial farms (e.g., in the Sudan and in the Gezira) with accompanying displacements of population, who must migrate else-where in search of land or urban employment. Increasing demands for fuelwood have greatly exacerbated the loss of vegetation caused by rural population increase, and growing rings of virtually complete deforestation are now observed around a number of African cities, especially in the broad Sudano–Sahel belt across central Africa (see BOSTID, 1984a, 1984b:42; Ibrahim, 1987; Bilsborrow and DeLargy, 1991; and papers on the Sudan and Kenya in Little and Horowitz, 1987).

Some of the same forces at work in Africa also appear to be operating on the Yucat´an peninsula, including large, misguided government and commercial farms (e.g., cotton, rice), lack of appropriate supports for traditional food crops, rapidly increasing animal herds, and deforestation associated with the extensification of agriculture. Although population density also appears to be low on the Yucat´an peninsula, the main issue in determining the “carrying capacity” of the region is probably not land availability but water availability and accessibility. If so, this parallels the situation in much of Africa, as reported by Falkenmark and Widstrand (1992), and differs from that of most of Latin America, which has plenty of rainfall.

In this case, climate change would be a serious concern and methods of improv-ing the storage and use of water should be a high policy priority on the Yucat´an peninsula.

Changes in agricultural practices on the Yucat´an peninsula in the past 15–

20 years include the introduction of fertilizers, herbicides, insecticides, pasture grasses, African bees, and Johnson grass, among many others. Not all were in-tentional introductions; some arrived accidentally, much like the disease epidemics of the 16th century. Some were brought to the peninsula with the best of inten-tions but have had negative effects, much like the intensive henequen production and cattle raising during earlier periods. Some practices have had mixed effects.

For example, while fertilizers can replenish the nutrients used up by crops, allow-ing more frequent replantallow-ing, they do not add humus to the soil, which is needed since it rapidly decomposes under tropical conditions. Nor do they replace the trace minerals mined by micro-organisms in the soil and the large root systems of trees during long fallow periods. Herbicides poison not only weeds but also useful plants that traditionally are not weeded out by the Maya, but are allowed to remain to provide chemicals that protect the crops (Rosado-May, 1991). In addition, the industrially produced biopoisons make it impossible to grow the beans and squash together with the corn, thus eliminating two beneficial aspects of traditional Maya

agriculture: beans are nitrogen-fixing legumes that add fertility to the soil, and squash plants have broad leaves that shade the soil, thereby lowering ground tem-perature and reducing evaporation as well as shading out many weeds. Herbicide use thus increases the need for both fertilizer and water, and helps create a need for other pesticides such as nematocides and fungicides (F.J. Rosado-May, 1997, personal communication). Finally, insecticides have the side effect of poisoning snakes, lizards, turtles, frogs, birds, and bats, which are natural enemies of many insect pests. The insect pest then can reproduce more rapidly, creating resistant new generations in short periods of time, each requiring new chemical insecticides which generally must be imported at high cost – a cost that has been even higher since the 1994–1995 dramatic devaluations of the peso (followed by continuing erosion of its value in international money markets).

The “Africanization” of the commercial bee population has been a challenge for beekeepers. The cross between African “killer bees” and commercial bees pro-duces a bee that is more productive, but that is notoriously aggressive and swarms to new locations easily, particularly under conditions of drought or low pollen, and is susceptible to a parasite referred to as boreaci. Most small producers have given up; a few of the larger producers have invested in costly protective clothing and more careful supervision, provisioning, and protection from parasites. They are currently enjoying increased productivity and higher prices for honey.

Johnson grass has become a plague in the corn fields of a large area of the state of Campeche, where misconceived projects to grow rice existed for a while. The rice seed carried with it Johnson grass seed from the United States. The rice project involved rainfed rice, not irrigated rice, and costs of production were higher than world market prices. Large areas were deforested around Yohalt´un and Edzn´a, to the southeast of the city of Campeche. Currently in this area, a non-native species of cotton is being sown on 15,000 ha by foreign corporations leasing land from ejidos (Ericson, 1997). Ironically, for centuries in this same area the ancient Maya cultivated a variety of native cotton that was highly valued by the Spanish as a tribute and trade item during colonial times. Contemporary cultivation of the non-native cotton includes repeated doses of powerful insecticides that in other areas of the world have resulted in serious wildlife loss and contamination of groundwater.

Effects of insecticides on soil have combined with exposure to wind and rain to increase soil degradation and erosion. Negative health effects on human workers have also been widely reported.[11]

Honey production suffers from insecticide use, as does fruit production, since the bees fertilize the flowers of fruit trees. The customary hunting of deer, duck, wild peccary, and wild turkey – traditionally important sources of protein – is suf-fering from habitat destruction as more and more land is put into cattle production.

Chickens and eggs are now mostly produced commercially in cages with imported

feed and have less flavor than free-range chickens and their eggs. Unfortunately, the backyard chicken grower has no way to market chickens to city dwellers willing to pay more for better-tasting chicken and eggs. It is the same with the pigs raised in commercial lots, a practice that concentrates manure contamination. From such lots, coliform bacteria and amoebas seep down through cracks in the limestone rock to deep water sources tapped by government wells. The contaminated water is then pumped to the surface, treated with chlorine, and sent through black plastic pipes to homes as agua potable, or drinking water.[12] Tractors compact clay soils, de-stroying tilth and thus decreasing yields. Turning over the soil also increases wind erosion during the dry season.

Some traditional farmers are still producing corn, beans, and squash using local varieties developed over the centuries by their ancestors and adapted to vicissitudes in the weather and to local microclimates and soils. However, the price in the market is fixed to be equal to that of the less flavorful corn produced on mechanized farms using hybrid seeds and biocides. Meanwhile, health-conscious consumers in the cities purchase imported natural foods, medicines, and supplements because organically grown produce is not available in local markets.

Fresh fish has also become more costly and scarce due to competition from foreign markets. Fish stocks are being depleted both by general overfishing and by the use of large nets with small openings that catch even baby fish (Faust, 1990, field notes).[13] Petroleum leakage combined with large-scale dumping of plas-tics and other human garbage is seriously degrading the ecology of both the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea. The shrimp industry is also overusing its resources, as is the timber industry. Many local carpentry shops are importing mahogany and cedar from Guatemala while the native guayac´an is being sent to Japan. Intensive truck farming of European vegetables has resulted in serious white fly invasions in Dzitdzant´un, Yoba´ın, Telchac, and Oxkutzkab (S. Ter´an, 1997, personal communi-cation). Cancer rates for towns with the longest exposure to agrochemicals are not known, but Ter´an has found expressions of concern over this issue in Dzitdzant´un.

The environmental risks to swidden production traditionally have been buffered by intensive production in houseyard gardens; by collecting wild plants, roots, and fruit; by hunting, fishing, and trapping; and by craft production and participation in the local market economy. The Maya now have new “needs”: television anten-nas sprout from thatched roofs and adolescents show off their new tennis shoes.

The Maya also have new opportunities. Artisanal production has found new mar-kets in the tourist zone from Canc´un to Tul´um. Overcutting has reduced timber harvests, but cattle ranching has increased. Henequen plantations have been at least partially replaced by citrus orchards and truck farming. Fishing has increased markedly (lobster, shrimp, octopus, grouper, and red snapper), as has migration for both urban employment and seasonal agricultural work on agribusiness plantations.

Since NAFTA’s ratification, maquiladoras (multinational assembly plants) produc-ing clothproduc-ing and textiles have sprung up around M´erida as well as in some smaller cities on the peninsula (Motul, Izamal, Tekit, Tekax, and Valladolid). The loss of the henequen fiber industry has been partially offset by these new factories, al-though migration to Quintana Roo has been a larger factor in providing employ-ment for former henequen workers. In 1970 the hard fiber henequen industry employed 45.6% of all workers in the state of Yucat´an, but by 1993 this figure had fallen to only 5.2%. On the other hand, the textile and clothing industry em-ployed only 4.7% of the total emem-ployed labor force in 1970, but by 1993 this figure had risen to 30.3%, including the maquiladoras, which accounted for nearly 10%

(Garc´ıa and P´erez, 1996:19–20). Unfortunately, wage rates on the peninsula are lower than elsewhere in Mexico; in 1993, the average monthly wage on the penin-sula was equivalent to US$93, below the monthly wage rate in Honduras, one of the lowest rates in Latin America (Garc´ıa and P´erez, 1994:24).

The sowing of cotton in the state of Campeche may be related to the boom in the clothing and textile industries due to NAFTA. The notoriously heavy use of chemicals is likely to devastate honey production in the region, as well as increase human diseases and devastate biodiversity (Murray, 1994:27–54). This is in an area that borders a large biosphere reserve (Calakmul) whose interior ecosystems are largely intact. On the other side of the peninsula, around the coral reefs of Quintana Roo, continuing increases in tourism threaten the living coral and associated species that form an ecosystem both exceptionally rich in biodiversity and exceptionally fragile (Hale, 1996).